Death in the desert: the arrest of Craig Titus and Kelly Ryan for the murder of their roommate Melissa James has caused a flood of Internet rumor and speculation. FLEX dives into the police records and grand jury testimony to bring you the facts

Flex, Nov, 2006 by Carey Rossi

Overlooking Pahrump, Nevada, a red Jaguar burned. Normally, a vehicle aflame wouldn't have signified anything too out of the ordinary. Perhaps it was the driver's misguided attempt to extricate himself from his lease, or a case of the engine overheating (this is southwestern desert, after all). On December 14, 2005, though, this particular blazing red Jaguar set in motion a chain of events that rocked the international bodybuilding community and set off a firestorm of mainstream media coverage.

In the trunk of the car, police discovered the body of Melissa James, the roommate and assistant to bodybuilding's ever-controversial couple. Craig Titus and Kelly Ryan. In the days after, Las Vegas police questioned Titus and Ryan and released them. Then, on Wednesday, December 21, they issued warrants for the arrest of the couple, who had by that time left town, allegedly trying to make their way to Greece, where, according to authorities, Titus believed they would escape extradition to the United States. After the couple had driven cross-country, they were arrested December 23, 2005--at a Stoughton, Massachusetts, nail salon, where Ryan was receiving a manicure--for the murder of James.

Since the charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping and third-degree arson against Titus and Ryan were made public, rumors and speculation have flooded the Internet. Some of what has been reported on various Web sites is accurate, but so much more of it is based on hearsay or, in the worst cases, outright fiction. Here, as a prelude to the trial, now set to begin on January 22, 2007, FLEX cuts through the rumors to bring you the real story.

THE FACTS OF THE CASE In the early morning of December 14, 2005, an anonymous call dispatched Mountain Springs' volunteer fire department chief Dick Draper to a fire on Sandy Valley Road off Blue Diamond Road at 4:40 AM. (Readers: all times given are Pacific Standard.) When Draper arrived at the scene, he found a four-door red Jaguar engulfed in flames. After fighting the blaze for about 45 minutes, Draper left to get a larger rig--the car was being consumed from the backseat forward. Since the trunk had not burned before he left, he wrote down the license plate number, which he later gave to police. While he was gone, dispatch received another call reporting the fire.

In complete darkness at 5:15 AM, Draper returned with a large rig to extinguish the fire. While investigating a smoldering part in the middle of the car with a pike and a flashlight, he peered into the trunk and spotted a body. He had reported the fire to arson investigators, but the discovery of the body changed everything--he then told dispatch to alert the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (Metro).

When crime scene analyst Jessie Sams arrived at 9:30 AM on December 14, it was windy. She found the Jaguar more or less intact, with only a few spots of red paint on its shell. In the trunk was a body, folded up, head covered with fabric and wire or cable on top of it; charred debris and pieces of fabric surrounded it. There were no keys in the ignition.

Eventually, DNA testing performed at the University of Oklahoma (Norman) identified the body as Melissa James. Clark County (Nevada) medical examiner Piotr Kubiczek, MD, pronounced the cause and manner of her death as undetermined--there were too many possibilities. Because James' body was 70% burned, evidence of injuries or signs that suggest particular means of death, such as asphyxia or blunt-force trauma, could have been destroyed. The fire itself could not be ruled in or out as a cause of death. The autopsy revealed remnants of duct tape wrapped around her head and mouth, and there was no telltale soot in the victim's lungs or carbon monoxide in her blood. Signs of asphyxia may have been destroyed, so that could not be ruled out. Finally, strangulation sometimes damages the hyoid and the cartilage around the thyroid area, but those were intact.

In addition, highly toxic amounts of morphine and 6-monoacetylmorphine--components of heroin--were found in her blood. Whether these substances entered her body separately or as heroin could not be determined, since injection sites were not found; however, such sites could have been damaged in the fire. James also had an abnormal excess of fluid in her lungs, often associated with ongoing morphine or heroin use. For these reasons, Kubiczek's final ruling on the manner of James' death was "undetermined with the contributory finding of opiate intoxication." Ultimately, in the absence of other causes, the opiate intoxication could have conceivably killed James.

Meanwhile, the license plate number that Draper gave to police was registered to Kelly Ryan. At approximately 11 AM on December 14, Metro homicide detectives arrived at the home of Ryan and her husband, Craig Titus, to investigate. When Ryan answered the door, they explained that her vehicle was found and asked if they could come in to discuss the circumstances surrounding it.